As known to those skilled in the art, since the divestiture of the Regional Bell Operating Companies from the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, and since subscribers now commonly purchase subscriber equipment from numerous suppliers other than the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, there exists a need in the art for providing demarcation points at subscriber premises between incoming telephone lines and subscriber premises lines to facilitate determination of whether a fault exists on the incoming telephone lines or the subscriber premises lines.
As further known to those skilled in the art, such demarcation point is typically provided by a telephone plug and jack with the jack being connected to an incoming telephone line and with the plug being connected to a subscriber premises line. The plug is plugged into the jack to interconnect the incoming telephone line with the subscriber premises line and hence to the subscriber's telephone, and upon a fault occurring, the plug is unplugged from the jack and the plug of an operating telephone is plugged into the jack and if dial tone is heard the fault is determined to be on the subscriber premises line, but if dial tone is not heard the fault is determined to be on the incoming telephone line.
As is still further known to those skilled in the art, at divestitute and largely since divestiture, the field was and largely still is replete with prior art terminal blocks mounted at subscriber premises for terminating and interconnecting a plurality of incoming telephone lines with a plurality of subscriber premises lines but which prior art terminal blocks include no structure for providing the needed demarcation points between the incoming telephone lines and the subscriber premises lines. Typically, as is still further known, the prior art terminal block is mounted to a bracket which is in turn mounted at subscriber premises such as to a subscriber premises wall.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for new and improved telephone network interface apparatus which may be substituted for such prior art terminal block, which may be mounted to the bracket to which the prior art telephone terminal block is typically mounted, and which may be substituted for the prior art terminal block and which will both terminate and interconnect the plurality of incoming telephone lines and plurality of subscriber premises lines formerly terminated and interconnected by such prior art terminal block, and advantageously, also provide the aboved-noted needed demarcation points between the incoming telephone lines and the subscriber premises lines for facilitation of the above-noted fault determination.